The EBRD has closed a couple of large transactions, as the bank continues its busy start to 2014.

It provided a senior loan of €49mn for the construction of the 108MW Crucea North wind farm in Romania, also attracting €49mn
in commercial financing from Austrian bank Erste Group and a €27mn VAT-funding facility from Romania’s Banca Comericala Romana. EKF, the Danish export credit agency, has provided 90% coverage for the Erste tranche.

Construction began late in 2013 on the 36-turbine wind farm, located in the Black Sea region of Dobrogea. It will be completed by mid-2015.

The EBRD also extended a senior loan of US$200mn to Lukoil Overseas Shah Deniz, a subsidiary of the Russian oil behemoth Lukoil, for the development of an offshore gas-field in Azerbaijan.

The finance will be used to develop the Shah Deniz gas and condensate field off the Azeri coast, which the EBRD’s managing director for energy and natural resources Riccardo Puliti says “is crucial for the energy security of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey”.

The loan will help pay for the technological upgrade of existing facilities in the field.